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It’s wild out west in the NFC. The Seahawks, Cardinals, Rams are all vying to usurp the back-to-back division champion (and preseason conference favorite) 49ers who are currently reeling as they send even more players to the injured reserve.
In this week’s playbook, I took a gander at the four teams in the NFC West, their current odds to win the division, what they’re doing to give them a chance, and what lingering question(s) I still have as they make the final push over the last month of the season.
Let the battle royale out west begin!
DVOA data via FTNFantasy
All other data via TruMedia unless otherwise noted
Seattle Seahawks
Current odds to win the division (via BetMGM): +150
What’s up with the Seahawks lately?
After stumbling into their bye week at 4-5, the Seahawks ripped off three straight wins and now sit here in Week 14 leading the division. Their offense, which has constantly been hampered by inconsistent and outright poor play along the offensive line, has started to build cohesion since Seattle’s bye. Center Connor Williams retired and has since been replaced by second-year player Olu Oluwatimi. Right tackle Abe Lucas returned from injury in Week 11 and finally slowed down the perpetual bleeding that had been happening on a majority of plays in his absence. The pressure rate allowed by Seahawks right tackles was 15.8% from Weeks 1-9, the highest in the NFL, but has dropped to 8.2% since Week 10, slightly better than the league average of 9.2%, per NextGenStats. While right guard has been a revolving door for the Seahawks, with the Week 13 start going to sixth-round rookie Sataoa Laumea (over third-rounder Christian Haynes), the Seahawks building consistency and chemistry along their front has started to pay dividends now that they have started to get healthier and the real characters for the unit moved to the forefront.
Against the Jets in Week 13, after some early botches (both involving Laumea), the Seahawks’ front started to get real movement with…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/football-301-playbook-what-makes-the-nfc-west-so-hard-to-predict-085739756.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-12-05 08:57:00
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